In the first half, it was clear that Villarreal were a top class side. They were confident, flash and quick both on and off the ball. They failed to crumble in the Celtic Park atmosphere, and scored after only 9 minutes, when a cross/shot was missed by the whole Celtic defence, and David Marshall in goal.
Celtic never looked a threat at all in the opening period, in fact we looked lost and confused. Long balls up to Chris Sutton were not working out for us and high crosses into the area were collected by the impressive Villarreal goalkeeper.
The referee baffled the home support with several crazy decisions. Stan Petrov had a shot tipped onto the post but the official unbelievably gave a goal kick. Petrov was also fouled moments before the Spaniards scored, the referee seemed puzzled as to what decision he would make, play went on and they grabbed a vital away goal.
The talk at half time was that Celtic were being outplayed in all areas of the pitch, we were giving the ball away far too cheaply and losing possession too easily.
Martin O'Neill must have given the players a well needed kick up the behind at half time, as The Bhoys came out looking a totally different side. The crowd got right behind the team and it was inevitable we would score.
Once again, the match officials showed their incompetence by disallowing Larsson's goal for hand ball. Larsson closed down a short back pass and the goalkeeper blasted the ball towards him. It hit Larsson's arm (which was protecting his face) via his knee, and rolled into the net. How on Earth could that have been deliberate? An intentional hand ball when the ball is going at 70 miles per hour? I think not!
Celtic's goal came on 64 minutes, when Didier Agathe played a great cross to be met by the head of Henrik.
Villarreal attacked us but in truth, David Marshall only had one save to make.
Alan Thompson showed his utter stupidity by picking up a booking for another unnecessary foul, which rules him out of the second leg. Sometimes, Thompson thinks he is above the rest of the side, acts like a superstar and lets the whole team down. Last night was one of they times.
We now have it all to do in Spain on Wednesday. But that's they way we like it. We done it in Liverpool, Boavista and we will do it in Villarreal.
Celtic:
Marshall - 8
Varga - 7
Balde - 8
McNamara - 9
Agathe - 7
Lennon - 8
Pearson - 6 (Miller - 8)
Petrov - 7
Thompson - 6
Larsson - 9
Sutton - 7
Celtic-Mad Man of the Match: Henrik Larsson
Celtic-Mad Moment to Remember: Larsson pointing at the linesman after finally scoring. The same linesman chopped off a perfectly legitimate goal minutes earlier.
Celtic-Mad Moment to Forget: The match officials - together they were the worst I have ever seen at Celtic Park.